Disclaimer: This post was accurate as of patch 2.4.3 (Info from Wrath beta).

Alright, it’s time I stop being stubborn about the upcoming expansion. I haven’t been completely avoiding it, but I’ve been trying to focus myself on the game at hand, on the stuff that I can do now.

But with the 3.0 patch on the horizon, it’s time for me to start thinking about the future.

So, I’ve started to look into what pets I will want to use. Right now, I have three pets: Willy the Warp Stalker, the pet I leveled with from 65-70, my tanking pet. Fiddlesticks the Cat, my reliable DPS pet who has accompanied me on many raids. And Sparkle the Wind Serpent, the newest addition that I’ve been playing around with lately, although she still hasn’t hit the highest level of loyalty.

I’d like to tame one pet from each talent tree, but I can’t just look at which pets are prettiest anymore, since each family has a unique ability. So I’m going to go over all the pet families in each tree and their special abilities, and try to figure out what I think about them. I figured I’d do it here, since I’m sure I’m not the only person looking into this. Feel free to share your opinions or help me decide which pet to pick!

I’m going to start with the Tenacity pets. Tanking pets. This is super important, since I’m going to want to level with a decent tanking pet at my side to hold the aggro.

Bears

Swipe: Swipe 3 nearby enemies, inflicting x damage.

Bears always felt a little boring to me. Although I always thought the diseased bears from the Plaguelands and Felwood were pretty cool looking! Swipe is an appropriate ability, and I would love to have a pet that can hold aggro on multiple mobs like this.

Boars

Gore: Your boar gores the enemy for x. Causes double damage if used within 6 seconds of a Charge.

I never really liked boars, although I suppose the Helboars that are present in Outlands aren’t quite as wimpy looking. I just don’t know if they are my style. However, the special ability is pretty sweet. When used in combination with Charge, that’ll be a nice damage and threat boost right at the beginning of a fight, which would hopefully mean I can go all out right away.

Crabs

Pin: Pins the target in place, and squeezes for x damage over 4 sec.

LOL, Crabs. I don’t know how super useful the pins the target in place thing is, since that doesn’t mean it’ll stop it from attacking. I can see the use in it, but Intimidation already has me covered there, I’d say.

Crocolisks

Bad Attitude: Snap back for x damage at any target that strikes you for the next 45 sec.

Crocolisks are kind of neat, but the noise they make drives me crazy! Too bad their special ability is so amazing for AoE tanking.

Gorillas

Thunderstomp: Shakes the ground with thundering force, doing x Nature damage to all enemies within 8 yards. This ability causes a moderate amount of additional threat.

I had a gorilla for a while, I think they’re pretty cool, and the AoE ability is pretty nice. I’d consider picking one up again for sure, although I don’t know how much I’ll be fighting multiple things at a time.

I am sad about this ability. I think a rhino would be an awesome looking pet, but this special ability is not really any good for PvE. The last thing I need is my pet knocking my target into another group of mobs or knocking him out of my shooting range. Booo.

Scorpids

Scorpid Poison: Stings an enemy for x Nature damage over 10 sec. Effect can stack up to 5 times on a single target.

Scorpids are alright, although I prefer something with fur. The ability is also just alright as well, I think I’d rather have something that does direct damage than a DoT, but meh.

Turtles

Shell Shield: The turtle partially withdraws into its shell, reducing damage taken by 50% for 12 sec.

I had a turtle once. They’re cute! I like the ability well enough, and I’m sure it would be nice, but with the talent to improve the healing done to the pet, if I get into a situation where this is necessary, then I’m probably screwed as it is.

Warp Stalkers

Warp: Teleports to an enemy up to 30 yards away and gives the pet a 50% chance to avoid the next melee attack. Lasts 4 sec.

Oh Willy, how I love you! I know the Warp Stalkers don’t get a lot of attention, but I really liked the Warp ability. It meant I didn’t have to wait quite so long before attacking, and it was also a great way to tag mobs when competing with a Night Elf Hunter w/Cat on the Elemental Plateau. But I think Charge makes Warp a bit feckless, and I think I might prefer to have the charge affect. So that’s not great news for Willy.

Although the ability is pretty neat in that it decreases the target’s armour, I just don’t think I could get over the look of the worms. Creepy. Maybe if they have some really cool ones in Northrend… maybe.

So, that’s it for Tenacity pets. Right now, I think I’m stuck between a Bear, a Boar or a Gorilla.

Braj, check out the talent trees. Last time I looked (which was a while ago admittedly) charge was on the Tenacity talent tree (at tier 1) so Willy would have access to that ability in addition to his warp.

Since both abilities would try to active right around the same time (when approaching the target) there may not need to be a CD share to have them negatively affect one another. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see on this one.

On another slightly related note it all may be moot since Tanks may not get charge after all (Dash and intervene instead) which would tip the scale back in Willy’s favour I’d guess.

Stampede does fit pvp better, but that knockback can also interrupt things, which is always useful. You might reconsider turtles if going into instances and raids. With a 1 minute cooldown, it can significantly reduce the healing needed, and let the healer have leeway when healing your pet.

Additionally, shell shield has niiiiice synergy with roar of sacrifice.